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| Global tax forum starts peer review of countries |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Mar 21, 2010, 19:47 IST |
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The global forum of more than 90 countries, working towards improving tax transparency and exchange of information, has launched the peer review of member-nations, including India.
India is a Vice-Chair of the Peer Review Group, which is part of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
The review, which forms part of the international fight against cross-border tax evasion, would initially start with 18 jurisdictions, including India, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
"We are very happy that the Global Forum is now moving to launching the peer reviews which are a guarantee that there are major progress towards full tax cooperation.
I also thank India for its very active and supporting role in the Global forum to fight tax evasion," Head of the Global Forum Secretariat Pascal Saint-Amans told PTI from Paris.
OECD, which coordinates activities on international tax standards, said the reviews would be carried out in two phases.
In the first phase, regulatory framework (of each country) would be assessed while the second phase would look into the effective implementation in practice.
Regarding the review procedure, the official said that each assessment team would be made of two countries and someone from the secretariat.
"The reports would be presented to the whole Peer Review Group (30 countries) for endorsement and then to whole Global forum (over 90 countries) for approval," the official noted.
Other countries that would be included in the peer review process are Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Jamaica, Jersey, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago.
Apart from India, Japan, Singapore and Jersey are also Vice-Chairs of the Peer Review Group. These countries have been chosen for a three-year period. The Group would be chaired by France.
The review process is in response to the G-20 leaders call to improve tax transparency worldwide, during their Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009.
"This is the most comprehensive, in-depth review on international tax co-operation ever... With these reviews we are putting international tax co-operation under a magnifying glass. The peer review process will identify jurisdictions that are not implementing the standards. These will be provided with guidance on the changes required and a deadline to report back on the improvements they have made," the Global Forum's Chair Mike Rawstron said recently.
Meanwhile, the issue of exchanging tax information between nations came into limelight after G-20 leaders pledged to crackdown on tax havens during their London Summit in April last year.
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